Strategy-focused instruction is one of the most effective approaches to improve writing skills. It aims to teach developing writers strategies that give them executive control over their writing processes. Programs under this kind of instruction tend to have multiple components that include direct instruction, modelling and scaffolded practice. This multi-component nature has two drawbacks: it makes implementation challenging due to the amount of time and training required to perform each stage, and it is difficult to determine the underlying mechanisms that contributes to its effectiveness. To unpack why strategy-focused instruction is effective, we explored the specific effects of two key components: direct teaching of writing strategies and modelling of strategy use. Six classes (133 students) of upper-primary education were randomly assigned to one of the two experimental conditions, in which students received instruction aimed at developing effective strategies for planning and drafting, or control group with no strategy instruction: Direct Instruction (N=46), Modelling (N=45) and Control (N=42). Writing performance was assessed before the intervention and immediately after the intervention with two tasks, one collaborative and the other one individual to explore whether differential effects resulted from students writing alone or in pairs. Writing performance was assessed through reader-based and text-based measures of text quality. Results at posttest showed similar improvement in both intervention conditions, relatively to controls, in all measures and in both the collaborative and the individual task. No statistically significant differences were observed between experimental conditions. These findings suggest that both components, direct teaching and modelling, are equally effective in improving writing skills in upper primary students, and these effects are present even after a short training.

Previous studies have shown the effectiveness of ICT-based writing instructional practices, but they do not show an in-depth analysis of their instructional elements, which could be key to explaining such effectiveness. This study aims to analyze the instructional design of effective ICT-based writing practices according to content and instructional dimensions. An empirical review was performed following the PRISMA statement guidelines with a sample of 22 studies. For the content dimension, learning objectives were coded in terms of target focus, subject-specific knowledge, and learning outcomes. For the instructional dimension, types of learning and instructional activities were coded, identifying their specific elements. Results showed that learning objectives were mostly focused on practice/internalization of high-level processes. Regarding learning activities, ICT was mainly used in practicing/applying, structuring, and observing/noting activities. Regarding instructional activities, application and demonstration principles appeared most frequently in the interventions, with application activities being most frequently performed by ICTs. Product-focused and corrective types of feedback, as well as static and procedural scaffolding types, were the most frequently performed using ICT. In conclusion, this study provides useful information on what writing activities can be performed using ICT and provide the basis for future studies analyzing to what extent these activities contribute to program effectiveness.

Research has shown that writers seem to follow different writing strategies to juggle the high cognitive demands of writing. The use of writing strategies seems to be an important cognitive writing-related variable which has an influence on students' writing behavior during writing and, therefore, on the quality of their compositions. Several studies have tried to assess students' writing preferences toward the use of different writing strategies in University or high-school students, while research in primary education is practically non-existent. The present study, therefore, focused on the validation of the Spanish Writing Strategies Questionnaire (WSQ-SP), aimed to measure upper-primary students' preference for the use of different writing strategies, through a multidimensional model. The sample comprised 651 Spanish upper-primary students. Questionnaire data was explored by means of exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory (CFA) factor analysis. Through exploratory factor analysis four factors were identified, labeled thinking, planning, revising, and monitoring, which represent different writing strategies. The confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the adequacy of the four-factor model, with a sustainable model composed of the four factors originally identified. Based on the analysis, the final questionnaire was composed of 16 items. According to the results, the Spanish version of the Writing Strategies Questionnaire (WSQ-SP) for upper-primary students has been shown to be a valid and reliable instrument, which can be easily applied in the educational context to explore upper-primary students' writing strategies.

The Journal of Writing Research is an open access journal that publishes high quality papers covering the broad spectrum of writing research.

The increasing integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in education has highlighted their potential to support writing instruction. However, research examining how ICT is used to teach writing, as well as the factors influencing this use across educational stages, remains limited. Accordingly, this study investigates differences in ICT-related training and the use of ICT for writing instruction among language and literature teachers in primary and secondary education, together with the internal and external factors shaping such use. A survey based on an ad hoc questionnaire was completed by 360 Spanish teachers. The results revealed significant differences between educational stages in both ICT-related training and the use of ICT for teaching writing. Primary school teachers tended to focus on low-level writing processes (e.g., spelling), whereas secondary school teachers placed greater emphasis on higher-level writing skills and more advanced ICT-based activities, despite the overall limited use of ICT for instructional purposes. Internal and external factors varied across educational levels and were positively associated with ICT integration; however, self-efficacy emerged as the main significant predictor of ICT use for writing instruction. Overall, the study identifies key barriers to ICT integration and suggests practical strategies to enhance its use in writing instruction, including targeted teacher training in ICT-supported writing practices and professional development initiatives aimed at strengthening teachers’ self-efficacy.